Fuelling lies: Wandayi in a spot as Kenyans struggle for fuel

It has been a case of outright lies and a public relations spin about fuel supply in the country for the last two months.

And in daring decisions, the government has even lowered standards for fuel importation, risking Kenyan lives to stabilise the supply of the commodity.

But even with the mounted efforts to spin narratives to forestall backlash, spot check across the country on Friday, reveals shortfalls.

The  fuel crisis continues to bite across several parts of the country, with many petrol stations shutting down and some places rationing the product, over dwindling supplies.

This comes barely hours after Opiyo Wandayi, Cabinet Secretary Energy and Petroleum  assured Kenyans that the country has adequate fuel stocks.

And now, it is also emerging that some oil marketers are hoarding the commodity, anticipating price hikes on Thursday next week during the next price review.

What is however of concern is that on Wednesday, Wandayi told Kenyans that ‘a minor technical issue’ had caused delays in distribution of fuel and would be resolved by end the same day. 

Seventy-two hours later, motorists are still shuffling from one petrol station to another in search of fuel, which has been costly for both individual motorists and businesses. Commercial transporters including matatus that consume fuel in large amounts have been hit hard while commuters are staring at higher fares as PSV crews push travel costs higher to make up for time lost in search for fuel.

The major supply hiccup comes at a time when Kenyans are edgy as they wait for the next fuel price review, which is set to take place on Thursday.

Some note that the shortages being experienced point to higher prices in the review, with oil marketers eyeing bigger margins for their current fuel stocks.

Wandayi has also found himself in an unviable position when he denied prior knowledge of the high sulphur fuel consignment that came in March and that it had also been procured outside the Government-to-Government framework.

This was despite having received some of the communication directly, including a letter sent to him by CS Trade and Industry Lee Kinyanjui. Wandayi was also copied in other correspondence in the days leading to the arrival of the cargo and even after.

This week’s assurance of adequate fuel stocks is not the first time in the recent past that Wandayi has told Kenyans that the country has enough fuel, yet petrol stations ended up with dry pumps and motorists running on fumes.

On March 25, Wandayi said that there were hundreds of millions of litres of petroleum products in the country, adequate to last the country through the next month but Kenyans would experience shortage in late March and April.

Normalcy returned when new fuel prices were announced on April 14, which many Kenyans noted pointed to earlier hoarding by oil marketers as they eyed higher prices on already existing stocks.

Wandayi assured Kenyans on Wednesday while addressing the senate, during which he said even in the worst-case scenario, he did not envisage a situation where Kenya could lack fuel.

“Let me say this from the outset, we have adequate fuel supplies in the country. We have adequate fuel supplies in the pipeline system. All the products – diesel, super petrol, kerosene, jet fuel,” he said in Parliament on Wednesday.

“And this has been made possible in spite of the challenges that the world is going through, especially the turmoil in the Middle East. This country has been lucky to survive that turmoil on account of the very robust government-to-government fuel importation framework… it is what has enabled this country to be where it is, otherwise we would be talking about something different.”

Wandayi added: “Many countries, including some neighbouring countries, have had serious challenges that you cannot believe.”

He explained that the shortage experienced this week was caused by a technical and an administrative hitch, which curtailed normal uptake by oil marketers.

He added that this had been resolved and that “normal supply is resuming today (Wednesday)”.

“I am sure that by the end of today, when you go to filling stations, you will be able to get supply of all petroleum products,” he said.

He further said the government would work closely with the Gulf oil firms within the G2G framework to ensure that  the country would remain well stocked.

“We have no doubt that even in the worst-case scenario, this country is not going to suffer any fuel shortage,” he said. 

He later on Wednesday issued a statement reiterating that “the country has adequate fuel stocks” and that the technical and administrative glitch that had resulted in OMCs not picking products had been resolved.

Wandayi’s assurances appear to be amounting to nought as petrol stations continue to turn away motorists since Wednesday, with the situation worsening on Thursday and Friday.

A spot check by The Saturday Standard showed that restocking at many fuel stations in Nairobi, Coast and Western regions experienced delays, with some going for hours without products while a few had shut down and indicated no hopes of getting products yesterday.

In Nairobi, frustrations continued to mount among motorists and boda boda operators as many petrol stations remained dry.

A spot-check along Mombasa Road revealed several empty pumps by major firms, including Total and Shell, which remained closed for the better part of the day.

In Mombasa, many fuel stations ran out of diesel, sending panic among vehicle owners using diesel, such as trucks. Super petrol users however, did not experience challenges at the coastal city.

For the last two days, residents and motorists in Narok have faced a severe diesel shortage. Long queues were synonymous as several few stations still dispensing diesel, that have run dry from Wednesday through to Friday.

Other than the fuel supply situation and Wandayi’s stand that has been contrary to the reality at the pump and resulted in some Kenyans pushing for Wandayi’s resignation or even sacking, the CS also denied having had knowledge of the importation of the first consignment of high sulphur fuel imported into country late March.

This has been despite correspondence that shows he was copied in the communication that officials at the Ministry had been making regarding the fuel consignment imported by One Petroleum.

In mid-April, Wandayi told Parliament that he was not aware of the plans to import fuel outside G2G and only learned on March 30 when the fuel had come in on March 27.

“The approval of the CS was not sought. If it was sought formally, I would have acted on it and most definitely I would have escalated it to the President and the Cabinet 

All this time, we were not aware that this thing was outside G2G. 

On learning, Wandayi told MPs, “I personally moved swiftly and briefed the President on March 30 when it became clear that this consignment was outside G2G.

He added that he later stopped the coming in of the second cargo that was enroute to Kenya. 

The CS also directed the withdrawal of the cargo from the Kenyan market, which experts doubted was possible because discharge from vessels to KPC systems results in fuel mixing with what is in the system and cannot be distinguished.

Despite his denials, the CS was copied in a letter that the former PS Liban Mohamed had sent to Kebs on March 26 seeking waiver for the 60,000 tonnes of petrol imported by One Petroleum from the Kenya Bureau of Standards (Kebs).

The PS, who was among the senior Ministry officials arrested and later resigned, had said due to difficulties oil firms were experiencing in sourcing for fuel following the US-Israel war on Iran and subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz, “the products found in the market were originally meant for other markets, where specification do not completely match those required by East Africa”. 

In responding to the request for waivers by the State Department of Petroleum, Lee Kinyanjui, CS Trade and Industry wrote directly to CS Wandayi on March 28, telling him that the Trade and Industry Ministry — which houses Kebs – had granted the waiver. 

In the letter, Kinyanjui gave conditions that the super petrol that was being brought by the  vessel MT Paloma should “be commingled with current stock to mitigate excess manganese” while also requiring the Ministry and KPC to control the release of the fuel to the market awaiting the next consignments, which would  “further mitigate excess manganese in the PMS (super petrol) currently in stock”. 

The waiver that had been granted for what was to be a lone consignment on MT Paloma has since been extended to other cargoes coming into the country over the next six months.

In suspending the standards that require only fuel with maximum sulphur content of 10 milligrammes per kilogramme, the Trade Ministry raised this to 50mg/kg.

This has left many Kenyans wondering why PS Liban, Epra DG Daniel Kiptoo and KPC Managing Director Joe Sang were hounded out of office for allowing in fuel with a sulphur content of 40mg/kg.

The lowering of the standards was primarily expected to improve the security of supply of petroleum products. Despite endangering the lives of Kenyans by allowing in substandard fuel, the security of supply still appears not to be guaranteed.

While recent developments such as last-minute procurement outside G2G framework, allowing high sulphur fuel, and casting aspersions on Kenya’s security of fuel supply, there are also numerous instances of suspected hoarding among oil firms as they hope to make more when prices are reviewed upwards.

Wandayi has been cautioning OMCs from withholding products in the market, threatening sanctions including licence cancellation.

In one instance, when he acknowledged that there may be hoarding, Wandayi talked tough, telling the markets, “If you dare engage in activities that would result in creation of artificial shortage of petroleum products, we are going to deal with you ruthlessly and in accordance with the law.”

Epra had at some point issued show-cause letters to several petrol stations suspected of hoarding fuel.

Despite the threats and subsequent chaos that have characterised the fuel supply situation, none of the firms has been penalised.

When he was appointed the CS for energy in 2024, one of the initiatives that he committed to was regular updates on Kenya’s energy situation.

This, he said would be through what he called the “CS Roundtable”. At a forum where Davis Chirchir handed over the Ministry in August 2024, Wandayi explained that the roundtable would take the format of town hall meetings with consumers of power and fuel in a bid to understand their pain points and try to resolve them.

While he has maintained a public profile and rarely needs nudging to make public statements, he appears to be failing on his promise to make the Ministry more transparent.

“As your CS, I will be engaging in regular roundtable discussions with consumers so that we are able to interact and they are able to understand and also get feedback on a regular basis,” he said at the time, promising to “maintain an open door policy” as well as “open ourselves to scrutiny by Kenyans and Parliament… and make communication more seriously.”